


All That We Do

by wynnebat



Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Far Future, Future Fic, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-29 05:22:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19823407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wynnebat/pseuds/wynnebat
Summary: Ichigo decides to name a fake partner in order to avoid another year of being Seireitei Communication Monthly's most eligible bachelor. His deception lasts about an hour.





	All That We Do

**Author's Note:**

> Usual disclaimer: canon is but a hazy memory. It’s been ages since I’ve properly watched Bleach. 
> 
> Halsey - [Drive](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oI-BsWbIg4)
> 
> All we do is think about the feelings that we hide / All we do is sit in silence waiting for a sign / Sick and full of pride / All we do is drive
> 
> Written for [UraIchi Events PC 3](https://uraichievents.tumblr.com/).

Some days, Ichigo still can't believe that after everything, he's made the Soul Society his home. He could have vanished off into the human world or Hueco Mundo after his death. Hell, some had expected it. He's never had much fondness for this place. First impressions are hard to beat and Aizen certainly left his impression. But he cares about certain people who in turn care about this place, and for them Ichigo will stay, and he will keep its course steady until it becomes a place he can be proud of.

Seireitei has as many skeletons in its closets as it does people. Every time, Ichigo thinks this might be the last of it, but when it comes to something as old as time, it is a never-ending crusade. That’s fine, though. Ichigo will tear through every murderous secret, every dirty deal, every tradition that was put in place to benefit only those in power.

No one particularly enjoys a visit from the First Division's lieutenant, as it's a sign that those skeletons will soon be kicked out of various closets.

Karakura Town will always be his birthplace. This place, it’s the one he chose to be his new home, and Ichigo won't put up with any more bullshit in his afterlife than during his human life.

He could do without the Seireitei Communication Monthly, though.

As Ichigo drags the newest megalomaniac with delusions of power off to the First Division, he catches a glance of a newsstand with dozens of copies of the newest edition pinned to the stand. A huge banner proclaims the winner of this year's most eligible bachelor award.

"Congratulations," his prisoner has the gall to say, spitting blood in Ichigo's direction. "What's this, tenth year in a row?"

"Shut up." Ichigo adjusts his grip on the prisoner. "It's my twelfth." He and Byakuya had been neck and neck for a while until the man had the audacity to get himself hitched. It would be nice for someone else to hold the position for a year. It was getting embarrassing. "Laughing is not helping your case."

The day doesn't get shorter from there. After depositing the man in a holding cell and briefing Shunsui on the issue, Ichigo makes some headway on the paperwork and no headway at all on training a few of the struggling new recruits. He gets the feeling that these idiots got in through politics and parentage alone—although Shunsui claims that he's hopeful that they will prove themselves to be productive members of the squad. Ichigo doesn't beat some sense into them as much as watch them manage to fight and whine at the same time. He spends a long moment fantasizing about what Kisuke would make of them. Had Ichigo come to Kisuke for training with this kind of attitude, he would have been drop-kicked back home.

Speaking of home, Ichigo checks the calendar, then leaves the rest of his paperwork on his third seat's desk. It's family night. On this night it's only him, Yuzu, and Karin, their father off on a mission somewhere and Orihime on her honeymoon. As Ichigo's ex-wife, she has a standing invitation to the dinners even after her marriage. Ichigo can only hope that his sisters will love whoever he marries next as much as they do Orihime.

"I saw the magazine," Yuzu says, adding another helping to his plate. Had Karin said it, it would have been as a tease or a taunt. Yuzu only looks at him with big eyes that make her look young, no matter that she's an adult woman. She'd even gotten more human years in than Ichigo. "Brother, don't you think that you're getting to be too old to be a bachelor?"

"Not when Shinji's around. He's been a bachelor four times as long as I've been alive."

Yuzu sighs at him.

Karin chimes in with, "I bet you're hoping to spend a century as the most eligible bachelor. I think they give you a medal if you stay at the top that long."

Actually, they've been trying to give him his yearly medal. Ichigo has managed to avoid them thus far. "Maybe I like the attention." At his sisters' doubtful looks, Ichigo gives in. He could never be the type to seek out attention. Especially based on his bachelor status of all fucking things. Ichigo glances between Yuzu and Karin, and knows that this conversation will never end. Month after month, they will ask and Yuzu will worry and Karin will badger him because she doesn't like it when Yuzu worries. "They can keep the award this year; I'm not an eligible bachelor anymore."

" _What_ ," Karin says, dropping her fork.

Yuzu gives him a brilliant smile. "That's great news. Who is it?"

Now that Ichigo has decided to take himself off the list of eligible bachelors, all he needs is a suitable candidate for the pretense. He knows who he wants, but. That's unlikely. Still, the idea nags at him, and with a shrug Ichigo says, "Kisuke, of course."

Two birds, one stone. He doubts that Kisuke will mind fanning the flames of the rumor mill. And maybe, just maybe, Kisuke will do more than fan them. But that's a fool's hope. For now, Ichigo just laughs at his sisters' expressions and listens to their careful attempts to get him to consider dating anyone else. It's been a long enough time that his sisters have forgotten the sting of learning how Kisuke had manipulated their meeting and Rukia's soul, but they've never liked him, not like Ichigo always has.

Ichigo's always liked Kisuke a bit too much.

It's the hat.

And the fan.

And the ridiculous mannerisms.

And the manipulation, the apology, the loyalty, the pain, the guilt, the awkwardness, the brilliance, the humor. It's everything, really. After so long, Ichigo can admit in the privacy of his own head that Kisuke had commandeered a large portion of Ichigo's heart without ever realizing it.

As night dawns, Ichigo takes his leave. Yuzu packs him some leftovers as usual and Karin promises give him a heads up when their father returns from his mission. The night is cool and wet, rainfall halted but threatening to pour once more. Ichigo shunpoes to the Research and Development Institute.

The building stands close to the northeast wall of the city, towering over the wall at its great height. Once part of the Twelfth, it is now its own separate entity within the Soul Society, as Kisuke had declined to formally rejoin the divisions. Its building is a tall, angular structure, and Ichigo had made more than a few jokes when he first saw it. He doesn't bother stepping inside, simply walking up the walls. He passes various laboratories. Some empty, some with sleeping or furiously working scientists.

At the very top, there is a rooftop terrace. Ichigo scans his reiatsu at the scanner and allowed entrance. He scans it again one floor below at the door of Kisuke's lab.

His eyes seek out Kisuke immediately. Something settles within him each time he sees the man, no matter how short or how long it has been since Ichigo has seen him last. It's that hair, Ichigo thinks fondly. He'd finally convinced Kisuke that the hat was a fire hazard inside the lab.

"I have food," Ichigo calls out, leaving it on the cleanest table in the room before stepping around a pile of metal to stand next to Kisuke. "It's Yuzu's."

Kisuke hums in response. He's hunched over a magnifying glass, his shoulders tight as he carefully adjusts something too small for Ichigo to see.

Ichigo leans against the table. "Yuzu and Karin have joined forces again."

"Mm."

"I told them we were dating," Ichigo says.

"Interesting."

A smile tugs at Ichigo's lips. He should have known better than to talk to Kisuke during the experiment he's been avidly talking about for months.

"Pass me the—" Kisuke waves a hand in no particular direction.

Ichigo hands him the reiactrometer.

"Yes, exactly," Kisuke murmurs before making quick notes on a sheet of paper.

Ichigo rolls his eyes. "If you don't come out of your research haze in ten minutes, all of it will be gone. I can eat Yuzu's cooking all day."

He opens the package to allow the smell to filter through the room, grabbing a piece of fish when he gets bored. He really hadn't lied. Even in the afterlife, Yuzu's cooking beats everything. There's more than enough for the two of them, and Kisuke may not manage to retreat from his experiment in time. Ichigo has his own section of the room where he does paperwork and the occasional experiment of his own, since Kisuke's a bad influence. It's been a long day; the idea doesn't appeal. He simply relaxes into the chair, glancing over at Kisuke every so often.

When he was human, Ichigo hadn't seen as much of Kisuke as he'd wanted to. It still feels like a treat to see him frequently. Kisuke had been firm about wanting Ichigo to experience all that human life had to offer. And Ichigo had. He'd completed his degrees, worked at Ryuuken's hospital, married, divorced, started a dojo. He could have done each with Kisuke's presence. Kisuke had only visited once every few months, each time looking guilty, as though he was intruding on something. Ichigo had never managed to find a way to convince him he wasn't. There was no part of Ichigo's life that Kisuke could have intruded into, not when he had Ichigo's welcome.

It took Ichigo a few years of living in the Soul Society to realize shinigami are weird about romance. Maybe the rukongai is more relaxed about it. In the Seireitei itself, love seems to take ages to spark between people so long-lived. And in turn, it takes years, decades, centuries to build. In a society where courtships can last decades and marriages centuries, there is no rush.

Ichigo feels no different as a shinigami than he had as a human. He still loves fast and hard, still cares for the same people with unyielding determination. Maybe if he hadn't fallen in love with Kisuke as a human, it would have been different. Maybe he would have taken eons to understand his emotions like a proper shinigami. Instead, he looks at Kisuke with too much affection, too much everything.

Ichigo enjoys the silence for a while, only breaking it to say, "Your experiment is about to blow." Ichigo may not know exactly what Kisuke is doing, science-wise, but he can read reiatsu as easily as breathing these days. The energy within Kisuke's experiment licks at his skin, all fire and purpose, only moments away from catching.

Kisuke douses it with a grumble and joins Ichigo at the table, where Ichigo has laid out the food in a full spread. Yuzu must have known he might not eat it at home; she'd even packed chopsticks. Maybe she'd even known that he would come here. He and Kisuke are friends after all. In the absence of romance on Kisuke's side, Ichigo treasures the friendship, the companionship, the way he feels at ease when Kisuke is by his side.

"I would have noticed if we were dating," Kisuke eventually says in between bites. He's finishing the meal already, the first part spent talking about the experiment and the newest criminal in holding. Ichigo hadn't been sure Kisuke remembered his words until now.

"Yuzu has been insistent and I'm running out of places to hide from Seireitei Communication Monthly."

"And so you chose me." Kisuke's gaze, formerly distant, is focused.

Ichigo shrugs. "I chose you." _Don't take it seriously,_ Ichigo thinks to say. _I just needed a name for the rumor mill._ But that's bullshit. "Are you game?"

Kisuke's fan isn't within reach. He has a certain look in his eyes that says he might wish it were, just to flutter it dramatically. "It depends on what the game is."

"Same as usual. Me and you. Anything else is just details."

"Ichigo," Kisuke grouses.

"Kisuke," Ichigo returns. "Come on, I'll walk you home. I bet you haven't left the lab in days."

"Only two." Kisuke grabs his hat on the way out. He's exchanged his former green and whites for shinigami blacks, but the hat remains the same, as do the traditional sandals. Kisuke knocks on the doors of any occupied labs as they take the spiral staircase down and yells for them to go home.

Outside, night has fallen. Kisuke's home is a fair walk away, off in the residential area. No spike in Kisuke's reiatsu indicates that he has any intention of shunpoing, so Ichigo doesn't either. It is dark except for the occasional lantern, silent except for their footsteps.

A part of Ichigo had hoped that Kisuke had resisted hinting at anything because of his age. Decades later, Ichigo no longer thinks that's true. In all possibility, Kisuke hasn't even considered a relationship between them. Kisuke's torch for Yoruichi burned for centuries. It still might, even though Yoruichi and Soifon are happy together. Ichigo knows better than anyone that you can't lose interest in someone just like that. He just needs it out in the air, even if it's in a roundabout way that he now regrets. He'll find Yuzu and Karin in the morning, and stop the rumor before it starts. It was stupid of him. Overly hopeful.

When Kisuke speaks, his voice is measured, careful. "The idea of us together comes with a number of variables. Untangling those variables has been..."

"You're a scientist," Ichigo offers when Kisuke trails off. "You're good with variables."

Kisuke tilts his hat down. "I haven't allowed myself to untangle them. Who knows what one might find?"

Ichigo huffs, glancing his way. "Wouldn't you rather know?"

"Can I?" Kisuke says, and it's so rare that he even asks, instead of doing as he likes.

"'course you can." Hands in his pockets, Ichigo walks Kisuke the rest of the way. He stops at Kisuke's doorstep, for the first time unsure of his welcome.

He shouldn't be. Kisuke kisses him once, a gentle, barely there kiss, then again a little longer. "I'll work on it. In the meantime, I expect you to defend your status as Seireitei's no longer eligible bachelor, and entertain me with the tears that your admirers will spill."

"I don't have any admirers," Ichigo says. It's less of a lie and more of a hope that eventually this may be true.

"All things considered—you have at least one."

And then Kisuke is gone, likely having decided that he has had enough of emotion for one night. Ichigo heads back with a smile threatening to break onto his face. Seireitei Communication Monthly will have to choose someone else for the year's most eligible bachelor. Ichigo no longer counts.

**Author's Note:**

> Your laugh echoes down the highway / Carves into my hollow chest, spreads over the emptiness / It's bliss / It's so simple but we can't stay / Over analyze again, would it really kill you if we kissed?
> 
> Thanks for reading! I'm also on [tumblr](https://wynnefic.tumblr.com/).


End file.
